Zero Waste Plan & Ordinance – City Facilities & Events

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Project Description

“Zero waste” has many definitions; the most ambitious means not disposing any waste into landfills. It’s an aspirational goal that requires significant behavior change, as well as mandates and bans applicable to products and packaging. Until we as consumers can control product and packaging design and constituent materials- meaning whether products are reusable, repairable, recyclable and compostable, prescriptive laws are critical. History has proven that.

For the City of Los Angeles, I first looked at available waste characterizations (what types of wastes are generated by which City departments and which operations); which can be managed via traditional recycling and composting programs and which require special handling or identification of end users and markets. Which single-use products can be replaced by reusable and/or less hazardous versions. Which waste streams can be addressed first because there are viable, affordable alternatives. The remedies for waste within city departments range from the mundane and easy (restock 3-ring binders for reuse by others; don’t print project titles on 3-ring binders so the binders can be reused by any department or employee) to the more difficult.What to do with used, HDPE hollow plastic “bird balls” that were used to cover drinking water reservoirs, for example? What should happen to used hard hats; they’re still good, but union regulations may require they be replaced annually. My zero waste report identified zero waste opportunities for operations common to all departments, as well as those are not common.

Governments have a lot of opportunities for control that they sometimes choose not to exercise. For example, hundreds of events are held on City property each year – parades, festivals, and catered events. Yet we allowed event hosts (along with event food vendors and retailers) to generate unlimited amounts of waste. We exerted no control over event foodware, food waste, shopping bags, beverages, retail items, and more – until adoption of this ordinance. Research showed that the majority of materials generated at events can be diverted through recycling and composting, and avoided in the first place by means of policies: a mandate on reusable foodware for catered events is one example.